The 48-year-old's defence team, led by barrister George Hepburne Scott, told the court about the existence of the multiple travel documents during his plea for bail, which was rejected by District Judge Marie Mallon.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), early this month, had said that United Kingdom's home secretary Sajid Javid had referred India's request for extraditing Modi to a court for initiating legal proceedings against the diamantaire.

The Enforcement Directorate is following a trail of $30 million which was routed to the US via illegal means. The money was used to purchase a property in New York. The transaction has numerous layers, the ED has learnt that it was first handed over to Mumbai-based firm Solar Stellar and then to Purvi Mehta [Nirav Modi’s sister] after which the property was bought in the US

A division bench of Chief Justice N H Patil and Justice N M Jamdar was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2009 by Shambhuraje Yuvakranti of the Akhil Bhartiya Maratha Seva Sangha on the issue.

In the meantime, the sector continued to sit on the mount of NPAs even as efforts continued in courts and tribunals and other forums for recovery of stressed assets, further confounded by defaulting promoters of defaulting corporates coming back to reclaim their assets when they were put on sale by aggrieved lenders.